A Summer Tamarind - Martin Newell

Martin Newell - The last English pop eccentric, brings out his first solo album for several years. Many people try for an authentic 60s sound, Newell actually lives it. This sunny-days mixture wears its Beatles / Kinks influences like a double-breasted paisley jacket is also surprisingly modern though. Contained herein are eleven bomb-proof three and a half-minute pop songs dressed with chiming Rickenbacker 12-string guitars, great garden-shed drumming and the type of gorgeous harmonies that no-one else bothers doing anymore. A Summer Tamarind is nothing less than a post-punk Rubber Soul and probably the best thing that Martin Newell has done since his Andy Partridge-produced Greatest Living Englishman album.

Another Sunny Day / St. Audrey's Fair (instr) / Mulberry Harbour / This Flamingo / Wow! Look At That Old Man / Stella and Charlie Got Married / You Made It Rain / A Summer Tamarind / The Golden Afternoon / Cinnamon Blonde / Dawn Smile

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Original Albums Boxset (4CD)

Originally signed to Cherry Red in 1981, Eyeless in Gaza moved very quickly through four albums of skewed free-pop explorations to become the intriguing, uncomfortable cousin of the brash new wave sound finding its way into the mainstream at the time.

Picture a place where scratchy guitars, synthesisers, primitive rhythms, found sounds, technical experimentation and neo-noise come together to provide a bed for the poetic, exploratory lyrics of Martyn Bates. Oblique, anxious, difficult in places and beautifully detached, their sound captured perfectly the beauty to be found if one cared to rummage through the rubble of a Britain in the midst of industrial collapse.

Produced with the approval and involvement of the band, and spread across 4CDs presented in a hard clamshell case, this set captures Eyeless In Gaza’s first four albums, along with a band compiled set of non-album essentials and oddities and a sleevenote by Martyn Bates.

• Four albums originally released in 1981-1982

• Singles and rarities collection

• LP replica wallets

• Band sleevenotes

• 69 tracks

A classic part of the early Cherry Red catalogue, Eyeless In Gaza continue to be influential today and are often namechecked as a key influence by artists from across the musical spectrum.

N.B. This album is released August 25 and will not be dispatched before this date.

•Back in the mid-80s, The Primitives combined the fuzz guitars of The Jesus & Mary Chain with the pop sensibilities of Blondie and a nod to cult heroes The Velvet Underground. They swiftly rose from being a popular Indie guitar outfit to charting worldwide with ‘Crash’, kickstarting a craze in bands fronted by blonde female singers (Transvision Vamp, The Darling Buds et al).

•Co-produced by Ian Broudie, Galore was The Primitives’ third and last album for RCA. Issued in 1991, the album was criminally ignored by a pop scene enamoured with Madchester and Grunge and has been long unavailable on CD. Despite its musical strength, fashions had moved on and The Prims disbanded in 1992.

•The Primitives’ profile has not been as high since their heyday, what with the release of a brand new studio album in October, Spin-O-Rama, which followed their reunion album Echoes And Rhymes (2012), as well as Cherry Red’s 2-CD compilation of the band’s pre-RCA recordings, Everything’s Shining Bright and a deluxe edition of Lovely.

•This 2-CD set boasts all of the band’s B-sides and other rare tracks from 1991/1992, including the singles ‘You Are The Way’, ‘Lead Me Astray’ and ‘Earth Thing’ from the Spells EP. Also included is the ‘Re-Ravishing Mix’ of ‘You Are The Way’, previously available only on a promotional 12”.

•Compiled with the help of guitarist PJ Court, this 2-CD compilation boasts re-mastered music as well as a splendid, annotated booklet boasting rare photos and personal memories from the band.

Please Note: This title is released 26th January 2015 and will not be dispatched until this date.